The Penang state government is willing to communicate with the Singapore government to plead for leniency for Malaysians, especially any Penangite, who had gathered to seek Malaysian electoral reforms which had resulted in BN winning despite losing the popular vote 47% to 51%. The Penang state government is trying to determine whether there were any Penangites amongst the 21 Malaysians arrested for conducting two protests on May 8 and 11.
Whilst the Penang state government acknowledges and respect the right of the Singapore government to determine and take action based its own laws and affairs, I believe that the Singapore government would not reject efforts to plead for leniency. Such effort is based on humane grounds and should not be seen as foreign interference in Singapore affairs.
The Penang state government hopes that Singapore can view this case not from a criminal angle but from a human rights perspective as those involved are law-abiding, without any criminal record or had no record of interfering in Singapore’s internal affairs.